MAPK‐like protein 1 positively regulates maize seedling drought sensitivity by suppressing ABA biosynthesis

• DOI: 10.1111/tpj.14660
• Publication Date: 2019-12-21T08:11:55Z
• Authors: Dan Zhu; Ying Chang; Ting Pei; Xiuyan Zhang; Lan Liu; Yuan Li; Junhong Zhuang; Hailian Yang; Feng Qin; Chunpeng Song; Dongtao Ren
• Keywords: Catabolism; Drought Tolerance

Summary Mitogen‐activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascades play vital roles in regulating plant growth, development, and stress responses. MAPK‐like (MPKL) proteins are a group of kinases containing the MAPK signature TxY motif showing sequence similarity to MAPKs. However, functions MPKL currently unknown. The maize ( Zea mays ) genome contains four genes encoding proteins, here named ZmMPKL1 ZmMPKL4 . In this study, we show that possesses activity drought‐induced expression, overexpression knockout seedlings exhibited no visible morphological difference from wild‐type B73 when grown under normal conditions. By contrast, drought conditions, ZmMPKL1‐ overexpressing showed increased stomatal aperture, water loss, leaf wilting opposite phenotypes. Moreover, these drought‐sensitive phenotypes were restored by exogenous abscisic acid (ABA). reduced ABA production enhanced production. Drought‐induced transcription biosynthetic suppressed catabolic seedlings, while their reversely regulated seedlings. These results suggest positively regulates sensitivity altering genes, homeostasis.